Elections Omnibus Passage Strengthens Voting Rights, But Work Still to Do

With the passage of the Elections Finance and Policy Omnibus Bill, Minnesotans are just one signature from the Governor from having more voting rights, and fair Census counts to inform better redistricting in future years.

Also known as the Elections Finance and Policy Omnibus, HF 4772 creates the following:  

• Ends prison gerrymandering: Minnesota will have fair Census counting for those who are incarcerated to be counted at their last address, not where they are incarcerated, to allow for more accurate Census counting,  fairer districts and better representation. 

• Expands polling places to some universities and colleges: allowing ease of voting for those attending 4-year institutions and allows voters to physically describe where they are residing to register to vote, allowing those on Tribal lands and the unhoused to register to vote.
  
• Establishes a Minnesota Voting Rights Act: to combat racial profiling and discrimination in voting, due to erosion of the federal Voting Rights Act. 

• Protects voters from disinformation: Sets up standards to combat AI deepfakes in our elections. 

“Ending prison gerrymandering, establishing a Minnesota Voting Rights Act, and expanding voting rights are great steps to improving democracy, but we cannot stop at these measures,” said Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota. “Legislators need to return next session to include preclearance in the Minnesota Voting Rights Act, expand campus polling places to community colleges where students of color are likely to make up the majority of the student population, and we need full grassroots redistricting reform with an independent commission.”

At the soonest opportunity, Common Cause Minnesota encourages the legislature expand on these steps with the following actions: 

• Update the MNVRA to include preclearance and a statewide database.
   
• Expand the 1-day polling places to include all higher learning institutions in Minnesota.
• Pass the With Us, For Us, community-led independent redistricting commission constitutional amendment.